My entire political career has been based on building up Britain's political standing and economic prosperity through our membership of the E.U. and the European project.

Access to justice is a fundamental part of a properly functioning democracy.

Without legal aid, and the dedicated lawyers who deliver it, our system of justice would quite simply collapse.

I am a firm believer in open justice, and an opponent of closed justice in any normal circumstances. But I am also an opponent of legal purism, and have no time for institutionalised mythmaking - whether from the authoritarian right or the liberal left.

I typically don't get into predicting the success of my projects. I've been involved with a lot of projects that I thought should have really gained notoriety and furthered my career, only to be met with the cold grasp of disappointment. So I typically stay away from predicting how a film will do.

My father believed strongly, and taught me, that you can't let yourself get too high on a success or too low on a failure. In this volatile business, that's useful to know.

Understand that life is journey. I haven't achieved the success I wanted to achieve yet, but that's OK - it's coming.

There was a point in the latter 1990s at which, suddenly, every sitcom and drama in sight had to have a gay or lesbian character or couple. That was good news as a voucher of the success of the gay rights movement, but it still grew a bit tiresome: 'Look at us! Our show is so hip, one of the characters is homosexual!'